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Friday, May 25, 2018

Millennials Choose Socially Responsible Investments

..a menu of investments broken down by social causes and environmental friendliness — so-called socially responsible investments, or SRIs — is what attracts millennials. In fact, Americans in their 20s and 30s are twice as likely as the overall investor population to put their money in companies targeting SRIs, according to Morgan Stanley's Institute for Sustainable Investing's 2017 Sustainable Signals report.

So what are SRIs?

It's a strategy that aims to deliver competitive returns while trying to bring about social, environmental and workplace change. It also goes by the names "ethical investing," "green investing," "impact investing" and "values-based investing."

Millennial interest in SRIs is having an effect: At the end of 2017, there were 234 mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) that invested in funds that were screened for environmental, social and governance factors, according to fund-tracker Morningstar. That's more than double the funds offered in 2012. Assets in these funds have risen 142% since then to $100.2 billion, Morningstar says.

"The assets that go into the socially responsible portfolios have gone through a screening process to make sure they meet the requirements of a particular fund," says Michael Katchen, 30, co-founder at Wealthsimple, a Toronto-based online investment manager that offers broadly diversified socially responsible portfolios that include stocks and bonds as well as foreign investments.